hal wirths

NJ FamilyCare expansion could make 24,000 kids who are undocumented immigrants eligible for health insurance. The federal government wouldn't help pay for it.

Sue Fulton, the chair and chief administrator of the MVC, said 35% to 40% of employees remain absent from work on any given day – better than the 55% at the height of COVID, but still much higher than the 20% before the pandemic.

Considering the record revenues and surplus, there was quite a bit of angst as the Assembly Budget Committee met with Gov. Phil Murphy's treasurer.

Lawmakers granted Gov. Phil Murphy’s request to delay his speech introducing the proposed state budget for fiscal 2023 by two weeks, from Feb. 22 to March 8.

They strongly criticize handing out stimulus checks to unauthorized immigrants and convicted criminals, but an immigrant rights activist argues essential workers cannot be left behind.

Police departments that already were prohibited from having ticket or arrest quotas in New Jersey now cannot use such data to evaluate an officer’s job performance, under a state law enacted on Thursday.

Just one Republican voted for the resolution: Sen. Chris Brown (R-Atlantic). Other Republicans either voted no, voted to abstain, or didn’t vote.

Assemblyman Hal Wirths called the bill “a charade” and was among a long line of Republicans who criticized the process for considering it, which skipped committee hearings where the public could have its say.

“As we’ve been saying, we’ve been living under a dictatorship for almost 15 months now, and it’s time for King Phil to get off the throne and let the legislators get back to work,” said Assemblyman Hal Wirths, R-Sussex.

State officials anticipate adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the state’s revenue forecast, but the good news for the budget will have to wait a few weeks because the tax filing deadline had been delayed to Monday, a month later than usual.